Girls who leave school at 16 less happy than boys - report

Sixteen-year-old girls who leave school are unhappier than their male counterparts, a new report reveals.

The report is part of the Competent Children, Competent Learners project, funded by the Ministry of Education and the New Zealand Council for Educational Research.

The project started in 1993 and followed 500 young people from the Greater Wellington region throughout their schooling.

The latest report has looked at the group now aged 16.

Out of the 447 who took part in this phase of the project, 420 were still at school and 27 had left.

Female 16-year-old school leavers were the unhappiest group surveyed , the report found.

Boys of the same age who left school were much happier.

The boys went to a specific job or training and left school because they were bored, head researcher Cathy Wylie said.

The girls' main reasons for leaving school were because they found it too hard, or they were depressed.

They were less likely to be following other interests, more likely to be hanging out with peers who were into drugs, or thought unsafe sex was okay, Ms Wylie said.

"About two thirds of the female school leavers said they never spent time on an interest or hobby."

That only applied to 14 per cent of the male school leavers, Ms Wylie said.

"That's one of the big differences between them, there didn't seem to be anything that was really catching them or engaging them, either at school or out of school."

That was why the girls were more vulnerable to falling in with those "who maybe didn't have much sense of how to spend time productively", Ms Wylie said.

The survey also found that girls were more anxious than boys about leaving school.

The girls were more worried about maintaining old friendships and starting new ones, and about practical matters such as managing their money and developing tertiary study skills.

The report also found that half the group had fallen in love and more than a third had already had sex.

Almost a fifth said they had been in trouble with the police.

The survey examined four social characteristics -- gender, ethnicity, maternal qualifications and family income levels.

A mother's qualification had the largest association with a student's cognitive and attitudinal competencies, the report found.

Those with highly educated mothers were more likely to have experiences that expanded their knowledge and skills.

- NZPA